British oil company Shell has lost the latest round of a five-year legal battle with environmental activists over an oil drilling campaign in South Africa that has reached the country's Supreme Court. The oil and gas giant will not be able to renew its exploration license on the wild coast of the Indian Ocean, in the east of the country, the Constitutional Court ruled on Friday (14/8).
Shell loses legal battle and will not be able to explore for oil in South Africa
British oil company Shell has lost the latest round of a five-year legal battle with environmental activists over an oil drilling campaign in South Africa that has reached the country's Supreme Court. The oil and gas giant will not be able...
It was a historic victory for local communities and civil society, highlights Climate Home News. “The decision makes me very happy and proud to know that the ocean is no longer an object of profit for mining companies,” said Siyabonga Ndovela, a resident of South Africa’s east coast and environmental activist.
- The decision by South Africa's highest court overturned a 2024 ruling handed down by the Supreme Court of Appeal.
- At the time, the favorable opinion of the appeal court gave Shell and Impact Africa, a local partner of the British oil company, a lifeline in their quest to carry out seismic surveys...
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It was a historic victory for local communities and civil society, highlights Climate Home News. “The decision makes me very happy and proud to know that the ocean is no longer an object of profit for mining companies,” said Siyabonga Ndovela, a resident of South Africa’s east coast and environmental activist.
The decision by South Africa's highest court overturned a 2024 ruling handed down by the Supreme Court of Appeal. At the time, the favorable opinion of the appeal court gave Shell and Impact Africa, a local partner of the British oil company, a lifeline in their quest to carry out seismic surveys (research that verifies the existence of oil and/or gas in a region) on the east coast, as part of an exploration right granted in 2014, explains Reuters.
The legal saga began in 2021, when activists opposed the seismic survey planned by the companies in an area where whales are frequently sighted, recalls Bloomberg. Environmental groups obtained an injunction that suspended the activity, claiming that communities were not properly consulted and highlighting the impact that the survey would have on local residents and marine life.
The following year, a South African high court overturned the decision granting the exploration right, as well as the two subsequent renewals. Shell's appeal was rejected, although the Supreme Court of Appeal later ruled that a third renewal, which was pending, could proceed subject to appropriate consultation.
Now, finally, the Constitutional Court has ruled that Shell and Impact Africa failed to comply with legislation on natural resource governance, failed to carry out an adequate public consultation and failed to consider the impact on climate change, cultural rights, livelihoods and ecological damage.
“The court stated that the right to public participation is not limited to following a procedure and filling out forms, but rather placing the dignity of our people at the center of development decisions that will affect them,” said Delme Cupido, director of Natural Justice, one of the plaintiffs in the court case.
The Constitutional Court's decision comes amid challenges to other offshore fossil fuel exploration activities in South Africa. The same Shell also intends to explore oil and fossil gas in the Orange Basin, on the west coast of South Africa.